Monet: Nature Into Art

This book is unbelievable in its thoroughness. I read the book over 10 years ago, and I have never read another art book to match it.This books shows what happens when an inquisitive mind investigates art. It answers not only any question that you had about Monet's art, but even those that you never thought of asking.For example it addresses the signficance of the expansion of the French Railway system, and the growth of the middle class, in defining the market for art.It addresses the canvas sizes used by Monet, and his progression from a history painter to a painter of genre paintings ( the one thing that he had in common with Degas ).I think that the important thing about this book is that it shows that a thorough intellectual non-purely visual approach can be made to the analysis of art, without the use of artspeak. The result is a book that is both readable and informs. Oh what a novelty!